On The Verge Of Insanity
by frekat
Summary: There's a fine line between the insanity of a genius and the insanity of a madman. How is one able to discern the two people when they could be considered the same person; two people stuck in a single body? There is no possible way, so when a string of perfect murders occur in Issei's neighbourhood, what's an 'unsocial genius' supposed to do? Ignore everything around him?


Every breath I took helped to calm the excitement.

The empty streets in the middle of the night, my unsuspecting victims, the hunt. All of it was exciting. In fact, I could say with confidence that all of it was _fun_ instead of exciting. I was only excited because I knew I could find my next victim tonight in the thick fog that had consumed the town. People would expect a killer to jump out of the fog and claim their life and that was what I was going to do. The best part was that I had already found my next victim.

She was a young girl with long raven hair and small violet eyes. Her frame was rather small and slender for her matured body, her skin a milky white, and she wore a short crimson skirt with stockings, a black coat that was fully buttoned up all the way with a red scarf that was wrapped around her neck, almost covering her cherry red lips that had taken the shape of a smile, and a black pair of high heel boots to finish her look. Her hands were deep in the coats of her pockets, revealing that she was not wearing any gloves, and her eyes darted around the place, also revealing her paranoia.

I have killed quite a few women these past few months and my murders have been flawless. I left the body and the puddles of blood, but I never left a fingerprint, murder weapon, or any tracks that could lead the authorities to my house in the middle of the night. The media has mentioned that my murders have been too perfect for a single person, so the police have stated that they believe a gang is involved instead of the singular person that they had once thought was killing these innocent people. Should I be glad to know that I'm never going to be found? Yes, I should, but a part of me is disappointed to know that I'm never going to be caught.

I pulled my gloved hands out of my grey hoodie's pockets and pulled a large kitchen knife out of a deep pocket of the jeans I was wearing. It was sharp and was designed for cutting, not stabbing, but it performed the former without any issues as the tip was able to cut my finger with a light touch.

I glanced at my black boots and sighed as I noticed that one of the laces had become undone and contemplated tying it up. I ignored it and let my eyes track my target through the fog, the street lamps barely illuminating the pavement she was traversing across the street.

I touched the silver mask that was covering my hooded face with my right hand, tracing the large indented smile with a finger as I grinned under the mask, my breath shallow and misty. I stepped out onto the road and twirled the knife around my left hand, the dominant arm, and whistled a familiar tune, watching as my victim jumped in place. She hurriedly glanced at her surroundings in fear as cold sweat poured down her face, fastening her pace once she realised she couldn't see me in the darkness of the fog.

I relished in the convenience of this hunting spot, noticing that one side of the street was lit up like a Christmas tree while the other was as dark as the deepest depths of the ocean, completely concealing my figure while I had direct sight on my victim. It was the perfect set-up for the way I stalk my victims before I kill them.

I grabbed the hilt of the knife in my hand as I finished twirling it around and discontinued my whistling, letting my boots clink against the bitumen in the silence of the empty street. I slowly approached my victim from the side, watching as her pace fastened once more, my legs moving faster to almost match her pace.

I released a heavy breath and inhaled sharply, letting the oxygen I had inhaled slowly make its way out of my body through my nose, my mouth opening to speak, "Here, kitty kitty. I promise I won't bite." My voice was quiet, silky and sharp, letting the empty street amplify the intended effect of my voice through the echoes it made. My grin widened as my victim was on the verge of sprinting, my pace matching hers as I followed behind her without a care in the world, "If you give up now, I promise I'll make it as painful as possible."

My victim burst out into a sprint, her heeled boots clinking against the pavement and echoing throughout the street. I followed behind her with my knife in a reversed grip, hoping to avoid any stumbles or tripping that would led me to stab myself instead of my victim. I fastened my pace and chuckled manically as my victim entered an alleyway that ended in a dead end, effectively trapping herself between me and a large wall.

How did I know the alley led to a dead end?

I've been in this part of town many times before…

I slowly came to a stop at the entrance of the alley, having lost sight of my target in the darkness and the heavy mist, a sigh escaping my lips. I enjoyed stalking my prey and hunting them down, but when they can effectively hide and potentially harm me it's not fun anymore.

Not that it was fun for them in the first place, "I know you're hiding in here, little kitty!" I stepped into the alley and located a few trash cans and a familiar dumpster on the edge of my vision, my face lighting up in excitement. I didn't hear either of them make a sound, so my victim didn't hide in them and hid further down the alley, "I can't believe you're smart enough to avoid hiding in the dumpster or trash cans. You wouldn't believe the amount of people that I've killed because they're stupid enough to do such a thing!"

I stepped past the potential hiding spots and squinted in the darkness, allowing my eyes a few seconds to adjust. I kicked a nearby box, crushed an insect under my boot and sighed, my victim entering my sight. They were pressed up against the wall at the end of the alley with tears in their eyes, quiet sobs escaping their mouth as their body violently shook, "You haven't called for help, either. How strange. I'm starting to believe you want me to kill you, though, which takes the fun out of this."

I took a single step forward and spun the knife into a normal grip, preparing to plunge it into the flesh of the beautiful girl in front of me. I ducked down just a little and pulled my left arm back, lunging forward with a grin present on my masked face. I threw my knife forward with as much speed as I could and glanced up at the girl's face, noticing the smirk on her face.

My eyes widened, I spun to the side and pressed my body against the wall, and dodged a glowing object that shot out of the alley at an impressive speed, "You thought you I was an easy kill, didn't you, human?" Two black wings shot out of the girl's back as she approached me, another one of the glowing objects present in one of her hands.

I grit my teeth and jumped away from her, creating distance between us. I realised it wasn't the smartest thing to do and ran at the girl as soon as my feet hit the ground, my knife raised in front of my chest.

The girl threw the object at me and I dodged it by twisting my body to the side. I lunged at the girl and hastily swung at the air in front of me, feeling my blade connect with nothing but air as the girl was using her wings to hover above me. My eyes temporarily widened in shock before I was forced to jump to the side, one of these mystical objects grazing the right side of my chest as I collided with a wall, my flesh ripping apart as if it was paper.

I winced as the pain flew through my body faster than I could say 'murder', but I shook my head once to wipe the incoming mental fog out of my head. I needed to escape this alley before I was injured further, but I wasn't able to identify any way I could escape that didn't involve being stabbed through the back. I dodged another spear and glanced at the barely visible exit of the alley, biting my bottom lip as I was forced to make a split second decision.

I clicked my tongue and barely deflected one of the objects with my knife, watching the thing bounce off my weapon and into the ground. I grit my teeth and jumped back once, twice, and then a third time as multiple spears were thrown in quick succession. I deflected one, watching as my knife cracked in the middle of the blade, and let another fly past my ear, bouncing off of one of the trashcans that was behind me as several of the objects impaled the pavement by my feet.

I was close to the exit and turned tail to run, diving out of the alley to avoid any potential attacks before I scurried to my feet, sprinting off into the fog with my knife still in my hand. I ignored my bleeding wound and focused on moving my legs as fast as I could, hearing the girl curse as she possibly lost sight of me. I faintly grinned under my mask and begun the journey home, satisfied with the fight I had just endured.

A fight was always better than an easy kill.

* * *

I yawned as my mother placed my breakfast down on the table in front of me.

Fish and rice, as usual. I was lucky enough to have set an alarm for the appropriate time as I would have accidentally slept in, though, effectively missing the most important meal of the day. Although, I didn't fully miss the meal when I slept in. There was always a lonely piece of toast that was waiting to be consumed, as well as a jar of strawberry jam.

My mother sat down across from me, clapped her hands together and muttered a traditional thanks, finding her chopsticks on the table next to her rice bowl. She glanced up at me, noticed that I was staring down at my food and sighed, "Issei, honey, what's wrong?" I glanced at my mother and rested my head on a hand, lazily picking at my food.

"I'm tired, like always." Mother stuffed a chunk of rice into her mouth and hummed in thought as she dutifully chewed on the sticky grains. She swallowed, pulled a glass of water to her mouth and devoured the contents before she cleared her throat and straightened her back.

"You need to go to bed earlier. I know you enjoy your hobbies, but having to go to school and learn things is more important than entertaining yourself. You need to get a good job to have fun, after all, as you don't want to work for the rest of your life!" I shoved a piece of the fish into my mouth as I apathetically stared into my mother's small honey brown eyes. I swallowed, blinked once, placed my chopsticks on the table and crossed my arms.

"You say that as if you know I'll get a good job. Personally, I know that a lot of university students who earn their degree don't get their dream job, even if they want to be a doctor. In those cases, it's a waste of money that you'll never get back because you have to work for the rest of your life, anyway, regardless of the fact that you were deemed intelligent in school." My mother sighed and covered her face with both of her hands, groaning rather loudly. She dropped her arms, hunched over her food and stared down at the table.

"You're too smart for your own good. Sometimes, I wish you were an idiotic pervert so I don't have to force myself through these conversations." I shot my mother a weird look as I resumed my eating, forcing a clump of rice to the side of my mouth with my tongue.

"That's the way it should be, then." My mother chuckled and slowly shook her head, muttering some inaudible words to herself as I finished my food, clapping my hands together. I pushed my chair out from under the table, stood on my own two feet and grabbed my school bag from the chair beside me.

"You're leaving already?" I nod once and grabbed my phone off of the table, shoving it into a pocket.

"Yeah. I have some things I need to do at school." That was a blatant lie, but I wanted some time to myself so I can observe my wild thoughts and figure out what it was I was going to do today.

"Alright, then. Have fun, sweetie. Don't come home too late, either! If you have after school activities, which I doubt you do, don't forget to call or text me."

"Ok. Bye, then." I raised a hand and left the dining room, reaching into my bag. I felt the plastic of my only friend, which was a handheld video game console, and sighed in relief, knowing that today was going to be a good day. I had already figured out what I was going to do this evening, after all, so all I had to do was figure out how I was going to go about it.

* * *

 **Yo. If you're here from my other story, Touched by Death, don't worry. The next chapter is nearly finished.**

 **I want to write a 'murder-mystery' story on the side, though, and I felt as if this was a very nice beginning chapter. You don't know who the murderer is (or do you? Am I that bad at hiding who it is?), so you can expect a not-so-massive plot twist in the future, as well as a few murders that may or may not involve the supernatural. It's gonna be pretty exciting, too. Although, I wanted it to be a Deathnote kind of scenario, so I'm open to any suggestions as to how I should write this story. Keep the killer's identity a secret? Or have it be like Light from Deathnote?**

 **Thanks for reading.**


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